TENSE TRUCE
Gaza ceasefire may be extended for 4 DAYS meaning ’40 more hostages being freed’ as all-out war looms just hours away
Israel promises to renew fighting with full force to crush Hamas as soon as the ceasefire expires
HAMAS hopes that the Gaza ceasefire could be extended for FOUR more days as its all-out war with Israel threatens to be resumed within hours.
Prolonging the temporary truce could see 40 more Israeli hostages released and allow more aid to reach the battered Strip before Israel begins its final showdown with the terror group in the south.
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With only hours left on the ceasefire, a source close to Hamas revealed they are willing to continue the "existing truce" until next week.
Under the existing agreement, the terror group must free Israeli women and children in exchange for Palestinian prisoners - but nine kids remain captive, including 10-month-old baby Kfir Babis.
Qatar's foreign ministry - which is helping to broker ceasefire negotiations - said they were seeking "a sustainable truce" that will lead "eventually to an end... to this war."
The initial four-day truce agreement started last Friday and was extended by 48-hours to last until early Thursday.
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However, as soon as the ceasefire expires, Israel has vowed to resume the war with full force to end Hamas's brutal 16-year rule over Gaza.
Israel's war minister, Benny Gantz, said today: “After the ceasefire, there will be renewed shooting. The entire war council is united in this position, and there is no other option.”
“We are preparing for the next stages of the war," Gentz added.
And yet, Israel is facing mounting international pressure to extend the truce and spare southern Gaza the devastating ground assault that has turned the north into a warzone.
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The IDF's next assumed target is Gaza's second largest city of Khan Younis, which has become a giant refuge for displaced Palestinians escaping the fighting.
The city has swelled to twice its normal size of 200,000, with most crammed into makeshift shelters and camps.
Israel believes Hamas will make its final stand in Khan Younis after becoming a hiding spot for "Gaza's Bin Laden", Yahya Sinwar, and other terror chiefs.
Earlier this month, the IDF dropped leaflets on the city, warning civilians to get out or "expose their lives to danger".
“Every house used by terrorist organisations will be targeted,” the leaflets read.
Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry estimates 15,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's retaliatory pounding of the enclave, while three out of every four Gazans have been driven from their homes.
Israel's allies have been wary of calling for a complete end to military operations designed to eliminate Hamas, but foreign ministers from the G7 have urged a longer truce.
"We support the further extension of this pause and future pauses as needed to enable assistance to be scaled up, and to facilitate the release of all hostages," they said in a statement on Tuesday.
Washington has also warned Israel that any fresh offensive in southern Gaza must be "done in a way... not designed to produce significant further displacement."
It comes as the latest hostage swap saw nine female Israelis and two Thai nationals handed over to the Red Cross in Gaza in exchange for 30 Palestinian prisoners.
Mia Leimberg, 17, was pictured tightly clutching her dog as she was returned to Israel with her mother and aunt after 52 days underground.
Since last Friday, Hamas has released 81 hostages, mostly Israeli nationals, while Israel has freed 180 Palestinian prisoners.
The relatives of 10-month-old Kfir Babis, the youngest Israeli hostage to be taken by Hamas, are have told of their agony as they await news.
Baby Kfir was snatched from Kibbutz Nir Oz during the October 7 attacks along with his brother Ariel, 4, mother Shiri, 32, and father, Yarden, 34.
Nothing has been heard from the family since - and they are once again not on today's list of hostages to be released by Hamas.
The infant is believed to be being used as a "trophy" after Hamas monsters allegedly traded him with another terrorist group inside Gaza.
His mother's cousin, Yifat Zailer, believes time is running out as she cried: "If we wait another day, we may lose him."
He is one of 40 hostages that Hamas "no longer has control of" having been traded amongst terror groups inside bomb-blitzed Gaza, Israel said.
Some 240 hostages were dragged into Gaza during Hamas's cross-border assault on Israel's south on October 7 that saw 1,200, mostly civilians, slaughtered.
The Sun spoke exclusively with the father of Irish-Israeli Emily Hand, 9, who was just released by Hamas after a horrifying 50-day ordeal.
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The Disney fan spent her ninth birthday dodging bullets as gunmen herded her between houses in Gaza.
Now, father Tom said she is barely able to speak after being ordered to stay silent by her Hamas captors.
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